Past Events

The conference will first explore the interplay between data privacy rights and financial innovation. It will then discuss the potential benefits, risks and challenges for robo-advisors and the capacity to progress from niche markets to the mainstream. The debate will finally explore how policy-makers could further help financial firms better protect critical data against increasingly complex cyber-attacks.

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 9, issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on 24 July 2014 and came into effect on 3 January 2018, addresses multiple aspects of accounting for financial instruments, namely classification and measurement, impairment of financial assets and general hedge accounting. The objective is to establish common and harmonised principles for the reporting of financial assets and financial liabilities.

All investment firms are currently subject to the prudential requirements designed for banks. The European Commission’s proposal for a prudential framework devoted exclusively to investment firms will alter this regime. While the systemically important investment firms remain under the same prudential rules applicable to banks, smaller investment firms will be subject to less stringent requirements. The overarching objectives of the prudential framework are to ensure that the firms have sufficient funds to remain financially viable and avoid contagion to customers and the wider economy.

One of the major highlights of each year, the CEPS Ideas Lab is the forum that gathers Europe's top decision makers and thinkers to discuss all the major issues confronting the EU. This year, the theme will be 'Europe - Back on Track'.

MiFID II (came into effect on 3 January 2018) is set to disrupt the production and distribution of investment research, impact execution services and ultimately the costs for investment firms and end-investors. Brokers have to establish a price for investment research separately from execution services. Asset management firms need to develop research budgets for all asset classes, and either pass the costs of research on to clients or absorb the costs themselves. Nonetheless, this will lead to new opportunities for investors to better compare price and quality across products and service levels.